Comcast Wireless Eclipses $1B in Q4 Revenue As Cable Giant Crowns 2023 'Best Financial Year'

The cable giant's executives said 2023 was its best financial year on record, driven in part by success in broadband, business services and its small but mighty Xfinity Mobile wireless offering.

Comcast executives Thursday said 2024 will see the cable giant invest in its high-growth areas, which include broadband and wireless, as the company said it recorded its highest revenue in its history during 2023.

Wireless revenue crossed the $1 billion milestone in quarterly sales for the first time. The Philadelphia-based cable giant’s wireless offering, Xfinity Mobile, has been quickly gaining momentum since it was introduced in 2017 and is especially popular with residential and small-business customers, according to Comcast.

In Q4 2023, the wireless segment continued to swell with revenue driven by continued strong momentum in customer lines, which were up 24 percent year over year to 6.58 million total lines. The company added 310,000 new wireless lines in Q4 2023, representing 11 percent penetration of domestic residential broadband customers, leaving a lot of room for opportunity with this offering, said David Watson, Comcast Cable’s president and CEO, told investors on the company’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call on Thursday.

"Wireless is one of the key long-term growth drivers and is absolutely a companion to broadband," Watson said. "Having said that, I think we can improve on these results. We are consistently in the market trying new offers both in terms of broadband and mobile together, and we do have unique opportunities that we evaluate and we continue to be hopeful that some of these offers will accelerate our line additions over time."

Comcast’s Business Services Connectivity segment pulled in $2.36 billion during the fourth quarter, representing 5.8 percent growth compared with $2.23 billion from the Business segment during 2022’s fourth quarter. Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong attributed the growth to consistent revenue from SMB customers and an increase in revenue from midsize and enterprise customers.

During the company's November earnings call, Comcast revealed that Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business, would be transitioning to chairman emeritus. Succeeding him in the role is Edward Zimmermann, who had previously served as Comcast Business’ CFO and chief of strategy.

A shakeup in November followed within Comcast Business’ partner organization, which included the retirement of channel chief Craig Schlagbaum and a “large” job reduction “across the organization” that involved cuts to a number of high-level channel leadership positions, people familiar with the matter told CRN at the time.

Schlagbaum’s boss, Terry Connell, senior vice president of sales and sales operations for Comcast Business, is leading Comcast Business’ partner program, with help from Matt Fassnacht, national vice president for Comcast Business Enterprise Solutions, Schlagbaum told CRN.

Q4 and full-Year 2023 Results

Comcast’s Connectivity and Platforms revenue—which includes high-speed internet, voice, video, cable TV and Sky-branded TV channels and wireless and business services— increased a modest .5 percent increase year over year during the fourth quarter of 2023. The segment generated revenue of $20.42 billion, up from $20.31 billion a year ago.

Comcast’s total domestic broadband customer relationships—residential and business customers—declined by 34,000 customer net losses during Q4 2023.

For the fourth quarter of 2023 that ended December 31, Comcast reported revenue of $31.25 billion, a 2.3 percent increase compared with fourth-quarter 2022’s result of $30.55 billion. The cable giant posted adjusted earnings per share of 81 cents compared with 70 cents per share for the same quarter of 2022.

For the full year, Comcast reported revenue of $121.57 billion, a slight .1 percent increase compared with 2022’s result of $121.43 billion. The cable giant posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.71 cents compared with $1.21 per share in 2022.

"2023 was the best financial year in our 60-year history and we already have nice momentum in 2024," Brian Roberts, Comcast's CEO told investors during the earnings call. "While there may be speculation of what we could do next, I'd like you to hear it directly from me. I love the company we have."

Comcast stock rose 3.76 percent in trading Thursday to $45.44.